Victoria Stone-Meadows

Port Douglas is home to new public defibrillators thanks to the fundraising efforts of Nina King and the team at Shakes Gelati Bar.

Ms King, along with Queensland Ambulance paramedic Ian Day, donated the life-saving medical equipment to N17 Burger Co on Wednesday, 12 December.

This is the third defibrillator the team at Shakes have raised money for and donated to local businesses for public use.

Ms King started the campaign after the sudden death of her husband Dave King in May 2016.

“We have been part of this community for nearly 12 years so we decided to give back to the community,” Ms King said.

“We are a family business and we always do some kind of fundraising so helping paramedics out which helps out the community just seemed right.”

Since then, defibrillators for public use in an emergency have been donated by Ms King and installed at IGA, N17, Shakes Gelti Bar and one is set for the local soccer club. 

Mr Day said to have public defibrillators in a small town is a great help to paramedics.

“As an ambulance service, time is of the essence, so when somebody collapses and their heart stops, basically the brain will start to die after about four minutes,” he said.

“Even though we respond as quickly as we can to incidents, sometimes its going to be longer than four minutes to get to an emergency.


“To have these out in the community can mean the difference between life and death.” - Ian Day,  Queensland Ambulance


Mr Day said it’s important for people to know where the defibrillators are located and to respect they are technical medical instruments.

“Always call triple zero first,” he said.
“If people know here these defibrillators are and see somebody collapse, its advantageous to go get it and take it to the patient.

“We can then instruct someone to take the defibrillator to a location, get the pads on and shock that heart back into a rhythm.”
Ms King said without the support of the local community, donating the defibrillators dedicated to her late husband would not be possible. 

“I want to give a massive thank you to everyone who donated,” she said.

“Hopefully, with these out here, another family doesn’t have to go through what our family has been through.”

Owner of N17 Burger Co, Simon MacLeod, said he is proud to be able to help out with this initiative.

“It means a lot for us to have this here because with our opening hours, it gives more access to having a defibrillator in town if it’s needed,” he said.

“Hopefully we never need to use it but nice for people in town to know where it is.”

Mr Day thanked Nina for her fundraising efforts and praised the people of Port Douglas for their willingness to support Nina’s vision.

“Nina has been fantastic,” Mr Day said.

“She came to us in unfortunate circumstances but as a result she has seen a need to get these out in the community to save lives, Nina is our hero.”